Diploma Diaries - Kelly Twigg's thoughts on the Diploma in Silver Jewellery
Artisan jeweller Kelly Twigg of Willow and Twigg Jewellery has been taking the Diploma in Silver Jewellery with us this year (2024/25) and sharing her journey weekly via her Instagram Diploma Diaries. We took the opportunity to ask her about why she chose the Diploma in Silver Jewellery, what her experience has been like and her tips for navigating the course successfully.
About Kelly Twigg
Kelly began making beaded jewellery as a hobby several years ago whilst still serving as an officer in the Royal Navy. In 2013 her husband was given an overseas posting to the USA, so she left the military to accompany him and focus on having a family.
On their return to the UK they moved to Alverstoke on the south coast of Hampshire, where Kelly’s love for the sea and beachcombing led to her taking up metalsmithing in order to make something with all the sea glass she found.
She went on to establish her own business in the summer of 2019 and her love for jewellery making continues. She works mainly in silver and loves to include gemstones in her pieces too.
Whilst proud of being self-taught, Kelly decided to help her business grow by enrolling on the Diploma In Silver Jewellery so she can consolidate her existing skills and learn a variety of new techniques too.
She is also very active on Instagram where she shares lots of jewellery making tips and techniques as well as her finished work, and is looking forward to teaching the sea glass jewellery class at JA Brighton this year.
Why did you enrol on the Diploma in Silver Jewellery?
I had actually been wanting to do the course for a long while, but needed to be in a position where I was absolutely sure that jewellery-making was going to be my next career before embarking on such a commitment. And after six years I know that I don’t want to do anything else!
The time finally feels right now. My daughters are currently aged 11, 10 and 8 and my husband is often away at sea, so my responsibilities at home still take up a great deal of my attention.
This means that I’m not able to devote as many hours to making jewellery or all the other things I need to do for my business at the moment, but that also makes it the ideal time to focus on my own skills and education.
Once my girls are older and I have more time available, I will be ready to really scale-up my efforts and give more to my business. Doing the Diploma now feels like a sensible investment for the future – working on the foundations whilst I wait to build my empire!
Why did you decide to do the Diploma in Silver Jewellery (year 1) rather than the Diploma in Fine Jewellery (year 2)?
I get asked this a lot, as I know the Fine Diploma is the course that many more experienced jewellers choose to begin with. However I think there is a big difference between experience in terms of years spent making, and then experience viewed as actual skills and techniques known. Depth versus breadth I suppose really!
I was pretty confident with my soldering skills and could make a neat bezel setting, but I had little knowledge of other stone setting techniques and had never worked with gold or wax before.
When I looked at the list of skills needed to begin on the FD, I would have had to fill in so many gaps in my knowledge that I would have ended up doing much of the SD as preparation, so I chose to start at the beginning instead.
Now that you have completed some of the course, was this still the right choice?
Absolutely! It was definitely a sensible decision, as it meant I was able to go at a comfortable pace and really enjoy each of the projects. Some of them were really challenging too, but I didn’t feel at any stage like I was completely out of my depth.
I also hadn’t done any formal learning for over 20 years so I was apprehensive about going back to school, but being able to start with the ‘basics’ allowed me to settle into things nicely.
I think if I had started on the Fine Diploma I would always have felt two steps behind, or that I was missing bits. Although some of the projects and techniques on the SD were familiar to me, there were still plenty of things I didn’t know or that hadn’t occurred to me before, and I really enjoyed trying out different methods and even different tools.
There is rarely ‘one way’ to do things when it comes to jewellery-making and I actually felt that I was gradually filling in puzzle pieces and any gaps I may have had from being self-taught thus far. I have appreciated the consolidation as much as learning new things, and this has really helped reinforce my confidence as a jeweller.
And had I been a complete beginner, this would have been the perfect way to start learning too. It covers everything you need in a very well-organised way.
How do you fit the Diploma in around everything else you are doing?
With careful planning! It may seem like a lot of extra work, especially for anyone who has family commitments or a full-time job, but it is totally achievable!
I divide my week up into a set routine to make sure I can make time for everything. The new course content is released every Monday, so I spend Monday and maybe Tuesday evenings watching through the tutorials and reading the written notes. This then gives me time to order any tools or materials I might be missing.
Then I set aside Wednesday as my main ‘Diploma Day’ and this becomes my dedicated time to actually make the projects, with Thursday (and occasionally Friday) as spare days if I need them. I fit my own business tasks around this, and then keep evenings and weekends free to spend with my family.
How have you found the structure of the course and the online lessons?
I love it! The whole system runs so smoothly and works really well for me. Everything is communicated so clearly and in good time, and the actual set-up in the learning portal is brilliant.
It is so easy to navigate and find things, and there’s a percentage calculator which shows you how far you have progressed through the material. There are a lot of extra links and tutorials too, and nothing is missed.
The tutorials themselves are broken down into manageable chapters, and the quality of the close-up filming means you get a better view than you would do in a live classroom environment and can see every detail. It’s also easy to pause and rewind if necessary, and the explanations by each tutor are always thorough and clear.
I also really appreciate the written PDF guide that accompanies each project too, and quite often have this open on my computer in the workshop to refer back to whilst making the projects.
I’ve lot actually made any notes of my own at all so far, and since we get lifetime access to the course I don’t think I’ll ever need to. It’s a complete reference library in itself!
Does cohort-learning help, or would you rather do the Diploma in your own time?
I think the fact that the Diploma is run in cohort learning style, across a set time period, and with other students following it together, is one of the most beneficial things about it.
I have had access to various online tutorials and learning programmes before, but always struggled to find the motivation to actively start them, let alone finish anything. I think it’s easy to make excuses about not having the time or opportunity, and then things just get forgotten or pushed back.
I need some form of accountability, to make sure I start AND complete the lessons, and the SD does that so well. I still have the flexibility to work at my own pace and in my own time, but the regular mentor group and individual sessions help keep me on track.
The course is also very well balanced to alternate the more challenging projects alongside the less intense ones. This really helps regulate any pressure, as does having the two weeks of ‘workshop time’ at the end of each term to catch up with anything missed or re-do anything we’re not happy with.
How have you found the level of support offered?
The support available is just amazing. Not only are the tutor group sessions really helpful for brainstorming and picking up new ideas from my fellow students, but the sessions with my mentor have been invaluable
The Facebook group is also a great source of help and encouragement and you never have to wait long to get an answer to any question or query, either there or via email.
You never feel as though you are doing this alone or without support and that has made a huge difference to me. Everyone shares their successes and struggles together and the community aspect is fantastic.
What advice would you give to new or prospective students?
Firstly, I would say not to get caught in the trap of striving for perfection! It can be so hard to fight the urge to keep making things over and over again to get them right, but not only does this just eat into your time, it causes added stress and isn’t necessary.
My mentor actually warned us against this mindset early on in the course, and it was the best thing she could have said! If we handed in perfect pieces each time then there would be no scope for mentors to offer feedback and we wouldn’t have the same opportunity for learning.
The same goes for trying to be too ambitious with designs or straying away from the brief. Look at the marking criteria, do what is needed to fulfil that, make the piece and move on. If you get time then go back and do it again later if you wish, but if you try to make things perfect at the beginning then you will likely fall behind or run out of time.
And secondly, I would highly recommend getting the material pack for the Diploma. I made a last-minute decision to order this and it was the best thing I could possibly have done to make my life easier!
Everything is already sorted, organised and clearly labelled and ready to use, and that has been fundamental to my enjoying the projects I think. Each week I just take out the relevant packets, gather my tools, and off I go.
What has been your favourite project so far?
I really loved learning the flush setting and tube settings. I’ve wanted to work with smaller faceted gemstones for a while now, and the pieces I made for these weeks are probably the ones I am most likely to wear.
But I also really enjoyed the challenge of doing the cold connections; riveting and hinges. These are techniques I would probably never have gotten around to trying without the Diploma, but I liked them so much I’ve already gone on to use them in my own designs.
And I was excited to start working with wax too. This has been on my wish-list for some time, and the courses we did here were an excellently introduction to using this medium.
What have you enjoyed most about the course overall?
Aside from learning all the new techniques, I would actually say the thing I love most about the Diploma is the structure and organisation it has brought back to my working week. I wasn’t anticipating the impact that would have, but having a routine in place and time commitments to adhere to has really helped me organise my time better overall.
I also think that when you make the move into having an actual business, as opposed to just creating jewellery as a hobby, this can cause you to lose sight of the simple joys of making.
I hadn’t realised at the time, but I had become so caught up in the need to sell my work and bring in income to cover the costs of running my business, that it had started to bury my creativity. Making jewellery felt more like an obligation than a desire.
By doing the Diploma I was effectively ‘forcing’ myself to have a day at the bench each week, and in turn this reignited my passion for the craft. I was excited to be learning again, discovering new skills and techniques, and suddenly I was coming up with lots of new creative ideas too.
I have realised how important it is to keep learning, experimenting and challenging ourselves at every stage we might reach in our profession. I never want to stop now that I’ve discovered the joy of that process again!
If you’d like to become a professional jeweller in just one year, take a look at the Diploma in Silver Jewellery.